Deals on power grid, containing crimes to be signed

Sheikh Hasina leaves for the event today

Seven member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation would sign two documents in Kathmandu today on creating a broader framework on sharing power grid and containing crimes and terrorism in the region.A memorandum of understanding on the establishment of BIMSTEC grid interconnection and BIMSTEC convention on mutual legal assistance in criminal matters would be signed on the sideline of the fourth summit of the regional body involving Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand, state minister for foreign affairs M Shahriar Alam said at a press briefing in Dhaka on Wednesday. Prime minister Sheikh Hasina is set to leave this [Thursday] morning to join the summit in the Nepal capital. She and her Indian counterpart Narendra Modi are scheduled for a meeting on the sideline of the summit today.Hasina will also meet Nepal president Bidya Devi Bhandari. She will return home tomorrow. BIMSTEC foreign ministers on Wednesday convened their 16th meeting in Kathmandu where Bangladesh foreign minister AH Mahmood Ali urged the member countries to renew their pledge to build the organisation as an efficient and result-oriented regional body, according to a press release.He also called for concluding BIMSTEC Free Trade Area and its constituent MoUs and protocols for its early implementation. The meeting was presided over by Nepal foreign minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali.Foreign secretary M Shahidul Haque led the Bangladesh delegation in the BIMSTEC senior officials meeting.